[1] Neuromas tend to be benign (i.e. not cancerous); many nerve tumors, including those that are commonly malignant, are nowadays referred to by other terms.

Neuromas can arise from different types of nervous tissue, including the nerve fibers and their myelin sheath, as in the case of genuine neoplasms (growths) like ganglioneuromas and neurinomas.

The term is also used to refer to any swelling of a nerve, even in the absence of abnormal cell growth.

Some of the benign varieties of neuroma, in the broadest sense of the term, are not neoplasms.

The stem neuro- originates from the Greek word for nerve (νεῦρον), while the suffix -oma (-ωμα) denotes swelling.